Syria says seized Hezbollah-bound arms on Iraq border
Syrian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle a shipment of advanced weapons and missiles through the Iraqi-Syrian border, the Syrian interior ministry has announced.
The ministry added that “investigations confirmed that the shipment was intended to pass through Syria to Hezbollah.”
Sources told Al-Arabiya television that the shipment contained "missiles, 150 booby-trapped drones, shells, and explosives" that were "skillfully hidden in oil tankers headed from Iraq to Syria's Banias oil refinery."
Syrian authorities are hostile to Hezbollah, which was an ally of former president Bashar al-Assad before he was ousted in 2024.
They have previously announced several other seizures of weapons they say were bound for the Iran-backed group, but Thursday's announcement is the first involving the border with Iraq.
It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea of Syria intervening in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
Since an Islamist coalition took power in Syria in 2024, the authorities claim they have dismantled several Hezbollah-linked cells preparing attacks in Syria, but Hezbollah has repeatedly denied the accusation.
The group has been weakened by the war it has waged against Israel since March in support of Iran.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said he has no interest in intervening militarily in Lebanon despite Trump's suggestions.
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Hang those involved as they will do it again.
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Thank you, Syria. Hezbullah will be militarily shut down soon. They can stay as a political and social party, but their days of holding Lebanon hostage and taking orders from their Iranian Masters, are over and they know it. Talk is cheap, but what's coming is not talk.
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Sunni Islamists in Damascus who are allied and dependent on Turkey are seen by the Israeli enemy as more a threat to them than Iran and Hizbollah who say they have allowed weapons to go through the borders without any restrictions, which makes this announcement just a publicity stunt. Turkey wants to be the leader of the Sunnis of the world and will only succeed if they give IsraHell a good beating. As far as Lebanon I remember a time in the 1980’s when Hizbollah and Sunni Islamists (Tawheed) were allies until the Syrian regime and its secular Lebanese allies defeated them. I see an alliance again as Iran and Hezbollah are weakened by war (and the secular Syrian regime no longer exists) and Turkey and the Sunni Islamists rise.
Good, for a first step.